The Spurs Won 62 Games. Their Half-Court Offense May Have Cost Them a Title.

The San Antonio Spurs' 2025-26 season ended on June 13 with a Game 5 loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. The way it ended is the story that still shapes everything about this team heading into the fall.

By the account of the season-ending coverage, the pattern repeated itself all series: San Antonio built double-digit leads, then watched them evaporate in the final minutes. That's not a random wobble — it's the signature of a team whose half-court offense isn't reliable when a possession slows down. It's also why The Athletic's preseason mailbag this week identified the half-court offense as San Antonio's biggest weakness.

The receipts back that up. The Spurs won 62 games, averaged 119.7 points and posted a plus-8.1 point differential, the third-best net rating in the league at 8.0 — trailing only Oklahoma City (10.6) and the Knicks (8.2). This was an elite team by virtually every macro measure. The gap between "elite" and "champion" showed up in the half-court, and it cost them the last series of the year.

The Wembanyama load problem

Victor Wembanyama's 2025 season was monstrous: 24.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.1 blocks in 29.1 minutes per game across 65 games, on 51.0% shooting. He also reportedly carried the highest regular-season usage rate in Spurs history.

That's a compliment and a warning at the same time. When one player has to initiate that much, the offense can get static in the moments that matter most. The Finals collapses were the symptom. The usage rate was the cause.

Harris is the obvious fix

San Antonio's response was to sign Tobias Harris on July 6 — a move that got far less attention than it deserved. Harris averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds on 46.9% shooting in 2025, and critically, he shot 36.8% from three and 86.6% from the free-throw line. Those aren't star numbers, but they're exactly the connective-tissue numbers a heliocentric offense needs: a veteran forward who can punish a defense for loading up on Wembanyama and knock down a late-game free throw.

His arrival also creates a role crunch. Harrison Barnes — 9.9 points on 38.4% from three in 78 games last season — will likely need to accept a smaller role. That's a good problem to have, and it's the kind of internal pressure that raises a team's floor.

The internal leap matters just as much

Dylan Harper's rookie year was quiet but efficient: 11.9 points, 3.8 assists, 50.4% shooting in 22.7 minutes. An insider report this week hinted his sophomore jump may already be underway before camp. Charles Barkley went further, telling Bill Simmons that Harper and Stephon Castle have the potential to become the next Stephen Curry-Klay Thompson pairing.

That's an enormous comparison, and Castle's 16.6 points and 7.4 assists per game give it a kernel of plausibility. If Harper takes a real step and De'Aaron Fox (18.5 points, 6.2 assists) settles into a cleaner role, the half-court burden on Wembanyama drops considerably.

What the market is saying

The betting market has noticed the roster. San Antonio sits at +260 to win the title per BetMGM, tied with Oklahoma City for the best number in the league, with a season win total set at 59.5. Those numbers price in a team that is already elite and expected to stay there.

The question is whether the offense can be fixed in the half-court. The Spurs have the depth, the star, and the offseason additions to do it. What they don't have is a second chance at last June — only the season ahead to prove the last five minutes of a game no longer belong to somebody else.